Vietnamese female students share the secret to graduating from the top in Australia

 Vietnamese female students share the secret to graduating from the top in Australia

With an ATAR of 99.7, Jenny is among the best 0.3% of 12th grade graduates in Western Australia in 2021.

Jenny Tran (Tran Hoang Nam Phuong) is a former student of Nguyen Khuyen Middle School and High School, Binh Duong. I have been studying in Australia since grade 9.

Among the top-performing 0.3% of Year 12 graduates in Western Australia in 2021, Jenny becomes the highest-ranked graduate in nearly 50 years of Carine High's founding. Carine is among the top 20 schools in the state.

Jenny at the graduation ceremony. Photo: Character provided

Jenny at the graduation ceremony. Photo: Character provided

ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Ranking) is a measure of the ranking between students taking the same high school graduation exam in Australia. This is the scale that determines which university a student will be admitted to based on their application preferences. The highest ATAR is 99.95.

With this result, Jenny applied for scholarships from three schools: University of New South Wales, University of Western Australia and University of Sydney. I chose the University of Sydney because it is one of the most prestigious universities in the world and has the top recruitment rate in Australia. Jenny is preparing to go to Sydney to study a double degree in Computer Data Science and Accounting.

According to Jenny, there are 5 factors that help her achieve good results in Australia.

Going abroad to study soon

In order to achieve the desired results, Jenny thinks partly because she was able to study abroad early from the 9th grade. Due to her young age, Jenny easily integrates, soon adapts to the study abroad environment and quickly gets used to activities of the natives.

According to Jenny, if you intend to study abroad in high school, you should go late to the 10th grade because in the middle of this year students have to choose the final exam. In addition to English as a compulsory subject, other subjects are optional. If you start in 11th grade, you may not be able to choose the subject you want. In addition, studying abroad late makes students not have enough time to adapt, affecting their academic results during the year. While your 11th grade score doesn't count towards graduation, doing well this year will give you an opportunity to be invited to take part in advanced weekend classes reserved for the state's top students.

Jenny (left) with friends in Australia. Photo: Character provided

Jenny (left) with friends in Australia. Photo: Character provided

Improve English anytime, anywhere

Australia's 9th grade program is quite light compared to Vietnam, so Jenny has time to improve her English. Writing is the most important skill to get good grades. Jenny read a lot of genres from textbooks, reference books, literature books to newspapers to learn how to write, use words, use idioms of native speakers. When writing essays Jenny always tries to write in her own words. Plagiarism is extremely taboo in Australian schools.

In order to improve her listening and speaking ability, Jenny actively initiates conversations with native friends, not clustering among Vietnamese international students. It's easy to say, at first I struggled to overcome the guilt of being an international student to practice English.

Despite her busy schedule, Jenny still finds time to be a mentor and tutor for the younger students. For Jenny, this is also an effective way to learn English.

Choose your favorite profession and strong subject

In the middle of the 10th grade, the school will give career advice to students and guide to choose the final exam. As an introvert, Jenny determined to pursue a career in engineering and engineering. Therefore, Jenny chose 6 final exams: English, Math Methods, Advanced Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. In addition to the compulsory English subject (similar to Literature in Vietnam), the remaining 5 elective subjects are Jenny's forte. After graduating from these subjects, I opened the door to many different courses at university in case I wanted to change majors. Moreover, the subjects Jenny registered are all difficult subjects, will receive bonus points when ranking ATAR.

Identify achievable goals

Previously, Jenny set a goal to be at the top of the school, so she was always under pressure to score. In 12th grade, the pressure is even greater from the very beginning because the test scores in class will be counted towards the graduation score. After failing once with a Physics test score, Jenny realized she was putting pressure on herself.

From there Jenny began to change her strategy, trying to do her best, but not comparing with others. My goal right now is to be better today than yesterday, and to be better tomorrow than today. No longer under pressure of scores, relaxed mentality, Jenny is much calmer when taking the test in class as well as when taking the graduation exam.

Study and rest properly

To avoid pressure and stay calm when taking the test, Jenny always plans to study early, not waiting for the water to reach her feet before jumping. A week before the test schedule, I finished my homework, then just reviewed it.

Jenny often comes to school an hour before class to study and review in the library. This habit helps me to start my brain early in the morning so that it is easier to concentrate when going to class.

In class, Jenny focused on listening to the lecture, asking questions to understand the lesson more thoroughly. Unlike when I was studying in the country, in Australia,